James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

Subscribe

Imaginative Realism

Dinotopia: The World Beneath

"A ravishing, action-packed adventure." —Smithsonian. Now with 32 extra behind-the-scenes pages. Signed by the author/illustrator

Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara

160 pages, fully illustrated in color. Written and illustrated by James Gurney. Signed by the author

Donating = Loving

Writing GurneyJourney takes dozens of hours each month. If you get as much out of this blog as you get from a cup of coffee or a nice meal out, please consider contributing to my citizen journalism in the visual arts.

CG Art

Contact

or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

Permissions

All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Someone spilled paint on a stool in an art school in San Jose, California.

The blob of paint ended up looking like a shrunken head. Student David Gustlin (now a faculty member) looked at that shrunken head shape and sketched the guy that he imagined it belonged to.

A myth was born.

The art students at San Jose State University knew they had the perfect mascot for their campus organization. They called it the Shrunkenheadman Club.

The Shrunkenheadman Club was formed in 1995 to to create a sense of community among students in animation and illustration. The club arranges for figure drawing sessions, visiting lecturers, and an annual costumed draw-off known as “D-Day.”

They sponsored me to give my Color and Light lecture a few weeks ago in October. That’s me and my buddy John Fleskes standing out in front of the school.

The students at SJSU ordered 65 copies of Color and Light, which I signed for them today and put in the mail. To make the books extra special, I made a custom rubber stamp using the club mascot. The stamp is made from craft foam glued to a wood block, and then stamped using a rainbow-colored pigment stamp pad.

If another art school, game company, or movie studio would like to put together an order for 40 or more books, I’ll be glad to come up with something equally customized.
------

OMG, thats my book!!! Thanks Mr. Gurney, you are truly an inspiration to all the students here!

Your lecture at our campus a few years back was the reason I became an illustration major, it seriously was a turning point in my college career. Now i always take out your Imaginative realism book to show the children at the art school i teach at, its been such a great tool and i think this new book will bring much joy.

I agree with everyone else! It was truly an honor for you to come visit us... Your lecture was very informative and made me realize that I have so much to learn about light and color! I look forward to receiving a copy of your book through SHM

I just bought your book (color & light). I haven't had the chance to read it all but jumping around every few pages... it's pure gold. It's filled with lots of helpful knowledge that is hard to find in one book. Thanks! and not only that, it's very affordable for books of it's kind. AWESOME!

It's great to hear from you at SJSU. I have great memories of that visit. Your questions at the end were so focused and insightful, and they showed me how deeply you’re all thinking about color and light.

Thanks again for coming to visit at SJSU! Mr. Gurney, I hope you get a chance to view this comment as I would like to apologize for a stupid question I asked during the lecture. I was the guy who asked for a digital copy during a 5 min break. Oh man, it's embarrassing just to type it out! I got a little caught up in my enthusiasm and didn't stop to think about the tact of my question. Hopefully my behavior does not reflect poorly on the rest of the SJSU students. They're great kids and are always a lot smarter than that. Thanks again, it was an amazing lecture!

Hey, Ian, don't worry, no offense at all--I don't even remember the question. But it's a reasonable one. I'm interested in put together a digital book or app version of all the stuff on the blog and the books, but that's a pretty big project.

And don't worry about SJSU--man, I was blown away by all the questions the students asked. They were incredibly perceptive.